


Spend My Kisses

by knittyknicker



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 5and1, Fluff, M/M, thehulksabiguarddog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-08 07:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/440832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittyknicker/pseuds/knittyknicker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are all sorts of reasons to kiss someone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spend My Kisses

1

All he knows is rage and fear and the fact that his Favorite if falling. Hulk doesn’t understand everything, but he knows that hitting the ground will make the man stop being and he wants this man- who laughs with his other, who isn’t afraid of him, who makes him feel something beyond the fury that bubbles under his skin- to never ever stop. 

So he acts, jumping high enough to snatch the falling blur of red before digging his fingers into the side of the nearest building, slowing his descent. For long moments he’s surrounded by the sound of shattering glass and the squeal of twisting steel, before finally, they grind to a halt. The rush of satisfaction he feels is new and he turns to share it with his Favorite. 

The man on his arms is limp and Hulk feels the more familiar wash of fear, letting it swamp him for a minute. Just as he starts to concentrate on the presence of Other tickling at the back of his skull, the man lying against him moves, raising a hand to flip his visor open.

“Hey, buddy. Are we down?”

“Down. Hulk stopped.”

“Yeah, thanks for the assist. I’m pretty sure hitting at that speed would have exceeded the impact rating of this suit.”

Hulk thinks Favorite is joking, but fails to see the humor. “Not funny. Favorite never fall again, Hulk stop.”

Favorite looks surprised at his words, but shrugs, sliding down to stand on his own feet, “Well, thanks then.”

Hulk presses one hand flat against the concrete to push himself up but stops, hissing when some of the glass from the windows digs further into his skin. Favorite looks worried, grabbing one finger in both of his hands and turning it palm up to survey the damage. Hulk thinks it is more irritating than life threatening, brushing his palms together to unseat the shards.

“If it weren’t for the radioactive thing, I’d offer to kiss it better, but since I can’t, this will have to do.” At this, he fires his repulsors, slowly rising to face level and pressing a quick dry kiss against Hulk’s forehead. “Better?”

Hulk nods, the churn of emotions too rapid for him to make sense of. The one that sticks out the most is a warm glow of contentment, and it rumbles in his chest as he watches his Favorite hover in front of him.

“Think you can finish the fight? We’ve got some aliens to get rid of, then I’ll make sure we get your hands taken care of.”

Hulk nods and stands up, turning to the point further down the street where the rest of them are gathering. He follows in his Favorite’s wake, the contentment dulled by the coming rush of battle. But even as they circle up, he can still feel the sensation of dry lips and scratchy beard against his face, and he thinks that maybe this time, it’ll work. 

2

“Hey, hey, calm down. They weren’t serious, just kinda stupid. You’re safe here.” 

He watches Favorite glare at the other men in white who are huddled by the door. They want to take him, trap him, hurt him, and Hulk fights himself, not wanting to hurt Favorite. 

“You idiots get the fuck out. Go find Coulson and read up on why he freaked. When you’re done, pray that SHIELD will let you look for employment elsewhere and not just bury you in Siberia ‘cause you’re sure as shit not staying here. Get the fuck out of my tower.”

The men flee and Hulk instinctively wants to give chase. Only the soft sound of Favorite’s voice stops him.

“You alright? Don’t worry about them. They were useless anyway. Once you’re calm, maybe you could take a nap while Bruce and I look for better replacements? You’ve gotta be tired. Too much going on at once, you know?”

He grabs Hulk’s hand, towing him out of the lab and down the hall toward the living room. Flipping on the TV, he tunes it to cartoons and gestures to the couch. Hulk hesitates, afraid of breaking it and making Favorite mad. He decides the floor is a safer bet and begins to lower himself to the carpet.

“Hey, no, I reinforced that one. You could probably flop onto it and it’d be fine. Really, get comfortable.”

Hulk does as told and sits, confident that his Favorite is telling the truth. The couch is soft and warm, and Hulk settles in dragging his fingers over the fabric. Finally Favorite finishes with the TV and sits beside Hulk, both falling silent as they watch the show. Reaching out, Hulk snags the smaller man at his side and drags him in, tucking him against his body. 

“All things considered, you probably just saved me a fair bit of money. One of those rejects probably would have blown up the lab or something and then We’d have lost all the data. So really, thank you.”

The warmth is back and Hulk can feel himself go sleepy and slow as he begins to fall asleep.

“Favorite,” He whispers, ruffling the smaller man’s hair.

“Yeah, you’re not so bad yourself. Sleep.” He feels the same gentle rasp of lips and beard against the skin of his shoulder and as he lets himself slip under, content and warm and safe. Finally safe. 

3

Hulk picks up another smashed metallic octopus, flinging it on to the growing pile in the back of an empty hauler. A few feet from him, he hears Favorite curse as he tries and fails to fire his repulsors. 

“Broken?” Hulk asks, still flinging broken pieces toward the truck. 

“No, I’m good, but my boots are shot and I need to get up to the pole to snag a piece of tech than snapped off when one of those whatever-they-ares grabbed me.”

Hulk looks at where Favorite is pointing, cocking his head as he considers it. He nods and drops the machine he’d been holding before crossing to Favorite’s side and gently lifting him by his thighs. Walking carefully, he crosses to the place he’d been directed before raising Favorite high above his head, allowing him to snag the broken piece. 

Favorite crows as his fingers close around the wires, dragging it to him before gesturing to be put down. As Hulk lowers him, Favorite grabs his finger, slowing his descent. When he’s eye to eye with the larger man’s face, Favorite claps a hand to his cheek, grinning fit to burst. 

“You just saved me a couple days repair. I could kiss you!” and suiting actions to words, Favorite places a smacking kiss against the darkening skin of Hulk’s cheek. Slipping free of Hulk's arm, Favorite darts off to grab his tools once more, leaving Hulk standing with one hand pressed to his face and a silly smile on his lips. 

4

“Anyone wanna- whoa!” Hulk hears Favorite’s voice just as he released the punching bag, the canvas sack of sand sailing toward him. Hulk freezes, waiting for the sound of impact and turns to run, certain that they’ll hurt him for what he’s just done. He can’t go through the door anymore, but he doesn’t want to destroy the walls and risk making Favorite even more mad. He stands, stymied for a moment and reacts blindly when he feels a hand against his elbow.

Whipping around, he bares his teeth at whoever dares to touch him. When he realizes who it is the relief he feels brings him to his knees, making the floor beneath them shake at the impact. 

“What happened? I wanted to spar, but warn a guy first, eh?”

“Hulk sorry, Hulk mad, panic, not mean-”

Favorite’s voice rides over Hulk’s babble, “Calm down, no one got hurt and the damage was pretty minor. Why’d you panic?”

Trouble maker shoots two fingers up from where he was standing. “That was probably my fault. I was griping about those nitrous arrowheads that you gave me. Some of them leaked and it was funny at the time but considerably less so after the fact.” He looks away, nudging his toe against the floor. “I may have said something about wanting to kill you for that, but I didn't mean it. I was just venting, you know?”

“Yeah, I know, but maybe we lay off the ill-kay? It strikes me as a bad idea.”

Hulk watches the others nod, satisfied that his Favorite is safe. Hulk knows that these people are supposed to be friends, but he’s been burned before and he’s slow to trust. For him, Favorite will always come first.

Favorite claps his hands, and turns, “Great, now kiss and make up and it’ll be like it never happened.” The muscle-y blonds stand silent, watching the scene play out while the tiny red one taps a slender knife against her palm. The trouble maker won’t meet anyone’s eyes, speaking to the floor. 

“I’m not doing that. I’ll apologize, but I’ll leave the kissing to you.” 

The others chuckle and Hulk bristles at being laughed at. 

Favorite shrugs, “Whatever. Your loss, man.” Turning back to Hulk, he waves him closer, stepping carefully between Hulk’s knees and tilting his head up. “No hard feelings, right?”

Hulk nods and lowers his face, bending until Favorite is close enough to press a kiss against his chin, and Hulk thinks that, if this is what forgiveness feels like, he likes it. When they straighten, the others in the room look stunned and they both chuckle, Favorite’s laughter shining brightly against the depth of Hulk’s darker guffaws. 

5

Favorite had been gone forever and Hulk didn’t know when he was coming back. Other tried, but it was hard to share the same space and staying awake made Hulk so tired and sad and frustrated when Favorite was gone. For a while he slept. 

~~~

A wash of fear from Other dragged him to the surface and Starman waved him over.

"We need to get in there. Tony's there and we have to bring him home." 

Hulk growls. Someone took Favorite, maybe hurt him. Hulk wants him back and there is a wall in the way. Simple enough to fix. Charging ahead, Hulk slammed his fists against the wall, grinning ferally as the bricks began to give under the pressure of his blows. 

Inside the wall, men are running and yelling and Hulk can feel the sting of bullets. But none of them are Favorite and he swipes a huge hand at the men closest to him before tearing the doors from their hinges. 

Three more doors fly through the air before Hulk finds him lying on a table, one wrist free and sawing at the other restraint with a piece of jagged metal. He's bruised and bloody and Hulk wants to go back and find the people responsible for hurting him.

Favorite is hurt though, so he ignores his impulses, choosing instead to help snap the restraints before lifting the man up, carefully cradling him against his chest. His voice is soft and Hulk strains to make it out.

"Knew I could count on you." Hulk is proud that Favorite trusts him and he smiles, stroking a careful finger down his arm. 

"Rest."

Favorite grabs his hand and tucks his face into the cup of Hulk’s palm, pressing a tired kiss to the skin.

"I can now, now that you're here." His voice goes quiet and Hulk looks down to where Favorite lies, finally letting himself sleep. Yes, Hulk thinks, you really can.

+1

The battle was fierce and, of the six, only Hulk and Hawkeye walk away without major damage. Steve is nursing a broken jaw and several broken bones in his hands while Thor is calling for Heimdall, arms pressed tightly against his stomach to slow the blood. Widow is already in surgery to repair the damage to her shoulder and upper arm, although at last word from Coulson, the surgeons are pretty sure they can save it. Tony’s not sure, but he thinks his femur is probably broken and it’s only the pressure of the suit that’s keeping him from passing out from the pain. 

He’s waiting for SHIELD support to show up and take charge of the scene, forced into the role of being responsible since he’s the only one still standing and in control of their faculties. Hulk paces at his side, growling any time he gets within a few feet of the enemy bodies. Tony hopes that Bruce emerges soon, since he really isn’t sure he can keep himself calm much longer, the pain riding over his endorphins and lighting up the edges of his vision. 

Finally, he manages to step wrong and even the suit is unable to compensate for the twisting step. Tony chokes on a scream, but Hulk understands more than most give him credit for, swooping over to lift Tony gently before laying him flat on a bench that miraculously avoided the destruction of the fight. 

“Favorite hurt.”

“Yeah, a bit.” Hulk frowns and Tony clarifies, hesitant to lie and have the Hulk find out. “Alright, more than a bit. Look, I know you’re worried, but I could really use Bruce now. He’s a doctor and I need one. SHIELD is coming, but it might be a while.”

Hulk scoffs, “Stupid suits.”

“Can’t say I disagree with that. If you concentrate do you think you could send Bruce back? I know you want to keep me safe and I appreciate that, but I’m fading buddy. Try?”

Hulk is torn. Tony can see it in his face as he argues with himself, possibly literally in this case. When Hulk finally settles on a course of action, Tony can see it in his eyes, watching as the green begins to settle and dim.

“Favorite safe, Other keep safe. Hulk go.” Tony watches as the Hulk lowers one hand to cup his face carefully before pressing a gentle kiss to his face, covering the entire right side. 

“Hulk watch, if Favorite need, Hulk come.”

Tony watches, awed at Hulk’s words and actions. He watches as Hulk closes his eyes, watches as his brow furrows and his skin lightens, slipping from green to pink, shrinking into Bruce before finally stilling, crouched and totally human in front of him. 

“What-”

“I know, I know, he loves me best.” 

Tony’s vision tunnels on Bruce’s startled face and he smiles as the pain and fatigue finally succeed in pulling him under, knowing that no matter what, Hulk will always keep him safe.


End file.
